Happy Thanksgiving

There is so much for which we should be thankful.

Personally, I have so many things for which to be thankful it would take me all day to list them. I thank Jesus Christ for what He did and what He continues to do – He's my Lord and Savior. I thank the saints for persevering in handing down the faith. I thank those brave souls who established this Union. I thank our military men and women for preserving this nation. I thank my ancestors for making the difficult journeys to American soil. I thank my parents for birthing and raising and supporting me. I thank my wife for marrying me and birthing and mothering my children. I could go on and on, but I won't.

Some Leftists go into their theatrics this time of year, braying about how horrible it was for Europeans to bring western civilization to the Americas. It makes me wonder why the ones in the U.S.A. who are European ancestry haven't moved to Europe.

This idea that the native peoples living here (who, by the way, were also newcomers at one time) were all peaceful and noble and that the Europeans who settled here were horrible, evil people who always mistreated the natives is ridiculous. All over the world, people have been overtaken and either killed off or integrated. Yet only in certain parts of the English-speaking world is the integration portrayed as evil and celebrating anything remotely connected to it is stopped.

But notice that the Normans didn't give the Anglo-Saxons any sovereign territory, nor casino operation exemptions. Such concessions are not typical of victorious peoples.

Don't let the Leftists take away Thanksgiving. Celebrate proudly.

It is time for us to pause and consider that there is much for which we should be thankful, and we should thank Him. If you're not inclined to do that, then at least consider all of the people in your life who have been there along the way, providing emotional support, friendship, guidance, and goods and services.

The modern American Thanksgiving meal is an overly bountiful one, a testament to how somewhat free markets and capitalism have produced plenty. From the farmer to the importer to the grocer, participants in the market have allowed us to splurge.

I bid you a safe, pleasant, and reflective Thanksgiving Day.

What's The Truth About the First Thanksgiving?

Lincoln and Thanksgiving: Origin of An American Holiday

Government Is Not Lord

May the Lord bless public servants.

But make no mistake. They are public servants.

The government is not our Lord.

Government powers are derived from the consent of the governed. 

The Constitution of the United States of America was designed to decentralize power, so that liberty prevailed and no handful of people could usurp too much power.

Don't look to Big Brother.

Look to yourself. Look your friends and family. Look to your network.  Most importantly, look to the Lord.

They're Making Our Point For Us

There are a bunch of cartoons like this one that are used an attempt to ridicule or silence people concerned about illegal aliens (and the murders they commit and all of the other problems associated with hoardes of unskilled, uneducated, disease-carrying criminals, especially if they don't understand or communicate well in English and have stronger loyalties to a country bordering ours).

The thing is, they unwittingly make our point: Those who do not successfully defend the land from invaders will lose it.

Were there people here already before the Europeans came here? Yes.

Were those people always peaceful to each other and living in harmony with each other? Nope.

Were all of those people always peaceful, kind, and welcoming to the Europeans? No.

Did the Europeans carry diseases for which the tribal groups did not have immunities? Yes.

Did the Europeans intentionally spread those diseases to the native people? There's no evidence of that. We know a lot more about how diseases are and are not spread now.

The technologically superior Europeans established, built up, and defended colonies. Along with the technology, the Western concept of property ownership & political borders, and battles, treaties, purchases, in addition to any broken promises & outright land grabs, secured this nation. The borders of this nation have been well established and recognized internationally for much longer than anyone has been alive. For example, California's anniversary is based on the year 1850. (To say that the Europeans were technologically superior is not to say they were genetically superior.)

Invasion and conquest was not invented by the Europeans coming to the Americas. The native tribes did it to each other as well. If not the Europeans, the Asians would have eventually came to conquer the New World, just as their cousins apparently populated it originally.

What you don't see a lot in history is allowing protected lands with their own governments, as the Native Americans have. I'm not saying life on reservations is all peachy, but at least living there is voluntary, and the reservations do exist. What has usually happened in human history is obliteration and/or forced assimilation.

So what is the ultimate point of the cartoon? That we should all pack up and go back wherever we or our immigrant ancestors came from? Why us and not the Native Americans, too? I can tell you why we shouldn't but present-day illegal aliens should. We now have a formal immigration system and internationally recognized borders. This land has long been settled.

Unlike the past, we also have taxpayer-provided infrastructure and social safety net. With people illegally crossing the borders or staying past their legal visit, especially if they are living a criminal lifestyle or not paying at least as much in taxes as they are costing, we have a drain on the system. [Addition: Notice that the child in the cartoon born to the European newcomers did not gain automatic citizenship in the native community, did not get communications from the natives printed in English, did not have education (including higher education) funded by the natives, did not have food, housing, health care, and police, fire, and military protection provided by the natives, nor libraries, roads, parks, running water, etc., etc.]

We should welcome people here, from every part of the world, as long as they want to become Americans and contribute. Our immigration policy must benefit the Union. We should not reward illegal aliens, regardless of what language they speak or their country of origin - it is a slap in the face to legal immigrants.

The next time you see a cartoon like this one, a good response is "Thanks for the reminder about how important it is to defend our national borders."

Previously: Truly Comprehensive Immigration Reform

Never Forget

Never, never forget that freedom isn't free.

Blessings and praise to all veterans who have stood up for liberty.

Did Dennis Prager Advocate Marital Rape?

 NO.

Trolls who attack Dennis Prager online often say he advocates or advocated marital rape. 

There are two basic possibilities here:

1) Their definition of "rape" is ridiculous and not what most people think of when they see the word.

2) They are bearing false witness. They are libeling Dennis Prager and and lying.

Dennis Prager didn't advocate marital rape. He didn't even defend marital rape. 

The allegation comes from a column or a pair of columns published at the end of 2008. From "When a Woman Isn't in the Mood: Part I":

The subject is one of the most common problems that besets marriages: the wife who is “not in the mood” and the consequently frustrated and hurt husband.

Anyone honest about marriage will recognize that this happens a lot.

A woman who often deprives her husband of her body is guaranteed to injure him and to injure the marriage — no matter what her female friends say, no matter what a sympathetic therapist says, and no matter what her man says.

Emphasis mine.